Introduction

In this article, I will present what I call the “Frosty” model. It is a way of mapping out and examining the structure of Trump’s system that has dominated Republican politics for about the last ten years. This model examines the relationship between Trump, his base, the media, money interests, and the politicians who perpetuate his narratives. These forces come together to form a domineering beast that drives the current Republican political apparatuses, strains the relationship between reality and ‘Trump’s truth’, and drives a polarizing wedge into the heart of American politics.

Structure of the Model

Before I break down this model, I would first like to define the the terms I reference, and establish the basic framework of the system. To do this, I will use a table that lists out the components of this model (see figure 1).

Next, I will break down all six components.

1. The Base

When referring to Trump’s base, I am referring to a specific segment of them. In basic terms, the Trump voter base can be broken down into four categories (see figure 2). The category I am referencing when I talk about Trump’s base is the CPV (Cult of Personality Voter). They are the loudest, most rabid, and most volatile segment of the Trump coalition. CPVs have been radicalized by a complete loss of trust in traditional media, government institutions, and factual evidence. This has been perpetuated by social media, where the classic ‘village idiot’ now has an audience, and conspiracy theories/misinformation spread like wildfires. In my experience, these voters find themselves in a ‘wrong sandwich’. In other words, through the wrong context they are right about the importance of an issue, but are wrong about the correct solution. For instance, the wealth gap. They wrongfully believe in a globalist (and jewish) elite who run the world, are rightfully upset with stagnant wages and rising costs, but wrongfully believe that Trump and his economic policies can fix that problem.

Note: interestingly, Trump walks a fine line. There are contradictions within his voter base that he must manage and balance. For example, the NEVs favor protectionist policies while the CCVs favor free trade. Trump balances this by using rhetoric that is in favor of protectionist policies, but actually passing more free trade oriented policy. For instance, Trump’s 2017 TCJA (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) was very much a free trade bill. Though Trump claimed it incentivized jobs to return to America, the bill caused corporations to be taxed 10% if they’re abroad versus a 20% tax if they’re domestic. Therefore, companies were incentivized to outsource due to being able to reduce their taxes by 50%. 

Figure 2

2. Politics

By politics, I am referencing the approach that Trump has made throughout his political career (MAGA politics). First of all, he uses ‘live bait’ instead of ‘lures’. What I mean is that instead of trying to get votes by promising to target abortion, he actually took actions to attack abortion. Instead of just talking about a wall, he actually tried to build one. While, like all politicians,Trump has a long list of empty campaign promises, the reality is that he actually lived up to some of them. This results in him being a victim of his own success. The bad decision of orchestrating the overturning of Roe v. Wade resulted in many potential Republican voters (especially female voters) now being disillusioned with the party or completely leaving it (further increasing the power of the CPVs). Second of all, Trump cut the red tape of dog whistles and directly appealed to the inherent ignorant, racist, and xenophobia tendencies of the average American (side note: I am not calling all Americans bigots, I am merely pointing out that there are inherent intolerant tendencies baked into the American psyche). In doing so, Trump created an incredibly rabid base with the trade-off being also producing a toxic political environment. Though his approach invigorates a lot of ‘crazies’, it also further polarizes the nation, and erodes social trust in one another. Finally, Trump creates a savior complex for his base. He presents himself as the only person who can save them from whatever they are concerned about (deep state, globalism, immigrants, democrats, space jews, etc.). He also uses blanket claims such as that ‘they’ are after him, further eroding trust in American institutions. His ‘them’ narrative also establishes a framework that anything negative about him (media articles, fact checks, court cases, losing an election) is actually fake news or a plot against him. 

The question here is that Trump clearly understands how toxic his base is (he weaponizes their toxicity frequently), so why would he create such a rabid and toxic base considering the greater implications for American politics? Three answers: commitment, narcissism, and short sightedness. In terms of commitment, Trump’s base is so volcanic that they will do anything, or go after anyone, just for him. They will not only vote and campaign for him, but they also vote in local elections, run for public office, and even potentially take violent action if directed to do so. The second reason, narcissism, is his need to feel popular and worshiped by the masses. Does he actually care about these people? Of course not. However, he does need them to make him feel special and powerful. Trump very publicly has an affinity for strong man authoritarian leaders, having such a rabid base helps him feel more like these tyrants. Finally, it is a short sighted strategy. Overall, conservative policies prove to be unpopular to the average American voter. Furthermore, when Republican technocrats try to convert Trump’s rhetoric into tangible policy, the result is bad policy. While MAGA politics is certainly an effective apparatus to ram policy through Congress, politicians rarely stop to consider the long term impact of such corrosive measures. Overall, Trump will only last so long in American politics, and as I will get to later in the article, when he is gone, his political system will not survive. Republicans will eventually need to go back to the drawing board or become the pariah American party because MAGA politics is not sustainable, and is completely built around a singular individual. 

3-A. Trump

To pretend that Trump sat down in a dark basement with a dangling lightbulb to craft this system is naive. In reality, this system was created as a consequence of Trump’s political approach as well as his messaging. In many ways, he is like Dr. Frankenstein. Meaning, this system is his monster, and now he must reckon with it. A critical consequence of building such a toxic system is that it relies heavily on his base being fed misinformation and conspiracy theories. What happens when the flow of brain rotting conspiracies stops? Additionally, he leverages his tight grip on his base very successfully, strong arming media and politicians into submission. However, in order to keep the system churning, he has to continually feed them more and more progressively outlandish ideas. However, there is a critical flaw: through the vertical power structure he has established, he is the essential cog in this system. Furthermore, he has beat down and neutered any potential disciples who could’ve been his successor and fill the void he will eventually leave behind (Ron Desantis comes to mind). Without Trump, the system either runs out of steam and goes dormant until the next charismatic demagogue awakens it, or spins so out of control that it eventually collapses in on itself like a dying star due to the sheer weight of the manufactured reality it is trying to support. Regardless, as long as the system has Trump, it will function.

3-B1. Media (Traditional)

By traditional media, I mean the conservative Fox News and Fox News adjacent corporations. These conservative institutions are still national outlets, but become more unhinged in their news coverage every day. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of worse and worse coverage, alienating individuals with critical thinking skills or a healthy media diet. What I mean by that is as result of their coverage, they have lost much of their centrist viewership, and therefore must compete with MAGA social media presences to retain viewership as well as more conservative news networks such as OAN and Newsmax. They are at the mercy of the CPVs (and Trump by extension), as well as the money interests these institutions represent. Therefore, they have been put into a self-inflicted situation where they must continue to cover and frame issues in a way that pleases Trump and his base to keep their audience, which creates strong MAGA-oriented political winds, resulting in continued relevance of Trump. Essentially, they have no journalistic integrity, and only seek to retain viewers and keep their corporate overlords happy. 

 3-B2. Media (Social)

These social media presences have amassed millions of followers and keep the MAGA propaganda machine churning 24/7, 365. Accounts like End Wokeness, Libs of Tik Tok, The Typical Liberal, and DC Draino are covered here. Additionally, social media personalities with popular shows such as Ben Shapiro, Dan Bongino, Charlie Kirk, Steven Crowder, Tucker Carlson, Tim Pool, etc. also fit under this umbrella term.  Basically, this is a large ecosystem with many different entities competing for the CPVs attention, resulting in perpetually increasing levels of misinformation. Due to the average American increasingly relying on social media for their news coverage, this component has a large amount of control over the information that makes it to Trump’s base. It creates an echo chamber that perpetuates lies and stupidity. In order to fuel the media consumption of the CPVs, which is their principal source of viewership, they perpetuate conspiracies, practice hate speech, and spread dangerous misinformation.

3-C. Money Interests

By money interests, I mean the corporations, entities, and organizations that invest billions into political campaigns, advocacy/lobbying, think tanks, and media. These entities pour large amounts of capital into the political system of the US in order achieve their goals. The entities I am referencing here have the general goals of deregulation, tax cuts, and free market policies. Additionally, other entities that seek conservative outcomes such as the NRA are covered here. They have the goal of making more money for themselves, and employ a considerable amount of money to buy influence. Especially in the wake of Citizens United, these money interests hold the purse strings for a large amount of election/reelection campaigns. Additionally, as mentioned before, they are foundational funders of many new and legacy conservative media institutions. Meaning, the media and the politicians must keep them happy in order to maintain funding. Essentially, Trump and the politicians pass policy that is acceptable to these entities in order to maintain their reelection aspirations. These interests have smartly latched onto Trump’s populist politics as a vessel to attach their policy agenda to.

4. Politicians

The final actor, politicians are critical here for a variety of reasons. When speaking of politicians, I am referring to Republicans. They face a tremendous amount of pressure from the media, money interests, Trump, and the CPVs. Continuing, they are critical in this system for two reasons: first of all, they actually pass the policy. Second of all, through their messaging, they validate and perpetuate the conspiracies that fuel Trump’s base. By pushing Trump’s narrative back onto their voters, these politicians are important for maintaining the MAGA echo chamber. As a result of abiding by the system, they become victims of it as well. If they do not abide by the will of Trump and money interests, they are replaced by a MAGA or corporate politician who will. It is these politicians who complete the cycle and help enable the system to continue churning.

What The Model Actually Looks Like

Seen in figure 3, the “Frosty” model resembles a snowman.

There are a few immediate observations that can be made from this model. First of all, there is a clear hierarchical aspect to the model, however there is more nuance to the system than a pure hierarchy. Secondly, I would like to add a few points of interest: though interestingly Trump is not at the top, he is still the lynch pin that is essential to keep the system functioning. Additionally, though the model has CPVs at the bottom, this rabid base has a large amount of power, occasionally even influencing Trump himself. In terms of the system, it all begins with the CPVs being upset about something real, and through his politics, Trump frames the issues to perpetuate his narrative. From there, the system then takes over. In this section I will discuss important relationships within the model (to understand the abbreviations in the Frosty model, refer back to figure 1). 

These relationships/internal systems are explained through triangles of influence within the Frosty model. These triangles are critical to understanding how and why the system functions. 

Triangle 1:

As seen in Triangle 1, through the political approach Trump has built, Trump receives grievances from his base, frames the issues to his liking, and then influences the base through his rhetoric. Trump cuts the red tape of dog whistles and uses ‘live bait’ to exercise this direct influence on the CPVs. For example, his use of scapegoats allows him to frame issues how he wants. However, it is also important to acknowledge that the triangle can potentially flow the other direction as well, meaning, in some instances, Trump can be controlled by his base. A great example of this is how Trump originally was flaunting his administration’s work on developing and distributing the covid-19 vaccine, but upon receiving backlash from his base, he ran away from that talking point. This first triangle is critical to understanding the first internal system within the model, which is the relationship Trump has with his base through the vessel of MAGA politics.

Triangle 2:

This second Triangle is important to understanding how Trump, through his politics, controls traditional media. Over the past few decades, networks such as Fox News have become lap dogs for the Republican Party. Trump’s politics have captured his base, so Fox must abide by his framing in order to retain viewership as well as their relationship with Trump. For instance, the way Trump frames migrants is perpetuated and validated by networks following suit. They run stories that emphasize ‘migrant crime’ and run recycled footage of gangs in Latin America and caravans of migrants. These constant stories reinforce Trump’s framing and simultaneously keep the network in his good graces, guaranteeing good relations with him, interviews, and an audience. One might be wondering why these networks are so dependent on Trump’s base, and that is because, as mentioned earlier, they have isolated other potential viewers with their increasingly flawed coverage of the news.

Triangle 3:

Triangle 3A and 3B depicts an incredibly interesting relationship between Trump, the base he controls, and the two media machines of traditional and social media. Essentially, this is where Trump really puts his thumb on the scale and exercises his control over the narrative. The basic nature of these triangles is that Trump controls his base, meaning he controls the principal audience for MET and MES.  MET has isolated itself to other audiences, so it is fighting a battle to capture and retain Republican viewers. As a result, MES and MET are often competing over who can keep Trump the most happy and captivate his base more. In other words, they both find themselves in an arms race of radicalization. Rather than educating and enriching the knowledge of their audiences, out of fear of losing viewership, they compete over who can prey upon ignorance and reactionary tendencies more. If one of the networks in MET or personalities/accounts in MES fail to appease Trump and his base, they lose nearly all of their viewership. This system is incredibly cannibalistic, as other MAGA media apparatuses will drive anyone who doesn’t run enough reactionary news coverage out of business. In this dynamic, Trump is able to strong arm the conservative media ecosystem into packaging issues in a way that suits his rhetoric via the threat of branding them as fake news or as controlled by ‘them’ to his base. The only real solace for the media here is that, while they can’t control the framing of issues, they can run messaging within the context of Trump’s framework that can influence Trump or his base on the issue. However, this inherently provides a very small amount of wiggle room for media to actually do their jobs. For instance, media perpetuates the claim that the US is being invaded by violent migrants, but will sometimes debunk some of the more nonsensical rhetoric while still abiding by the general context (i.e. yes, our country is being invaded by dangerous ‘illegals’, but no, Haitian migrants are not eating pets)

Triangle 4:

Another critical influence on the media is MI. Money Interests fund many conservative media apparatuses. They recognize the political winds that Trump is blowing, and through the vessel of the media (and many other avenues of influence), attach the policy prescriptions they want to the narratives the media is packaging. For example, Trump pushes a narrative that the education system is compromised by woke marxism, the media pushes this narrative, but adds the attachment of school choice programs being the solution, and now the issue has policy that suits money interests attached. Both traditional media (Fox) and social media (The Daily Wire) must maintain funding from MI to operate. However, referring back to the previous triangles they also need to keep Trump and the CPVs happy. If they do not have an audience anymore, then they will lose funding.  They perform this balancing act by pushing Trump’s narratives, but applying policy solutions that suit MI to the narratives. In terms of the system itself, the media takes a critical role in the process of perpetuating Trump’s narratives and attaching poor policy to these issues.

Triangle 5:

The narratives Trump creates, and then the legwork of the media to expand and disseminate Trump’s framing, creates a tremendous amount of downward pressure on the Politicians. Considering that the most vocal factions of these politicians’ bases fall within the CPV category, the media has a large amount of control over them. This highly disincentivizes the politicians from speaking out against Trump or his policy, and as a result, they tow the party line. For instance, though it was certainly flawed, Lankford’s border bill was a bi-partisan bill that addressed concerns on the border. However, Republicans were willing to trash the bill over concerns of Trump and the media thrashing them. That being said, there certainly are Republican politicians who try to ‘walk the line’ when it comes to fully buying into MAGA politics. However, that enclave is increasingly getting smaller, and if they have any aspirations for reelection; they always keep a low profile. The principal concern for these politicians is to avoid being in the crosshairs of the MAGA media ecosystem.

Triangle 6:

The second cause of downward pressure on the politicians is the money interests themselves. Which, also creates downward pressure on Trump as well. This is not a unique feature of this system, but rather a legacy relationship between politicians and money that has been grandfathered in. MI uses media, advocacy, think tanks, and a large amount of funds at their command to influence policy. Money interests are the reason why Trump, even though a large number of his supporters in 2016 were NEVs who supported protectionist policies, with the help of congress, ended up passing legislation that incentivized outsourcing. For all politicians, securing campaign donations is paramount. If there is no reelection money, they do not have a chance. In other words, grass root funding will only take you so far. MAGA politics requires its participants to bend the knee to money interests. That is why every politician, in one way or another, ends up kissing the ring of at least one group of wealthy donors. Even Trump falls into this dynamic, because the material reality is that, in a national election, a politician who lacks a large pool of funds will most likely lose to the politician who doesn’t.

Triangle 7:

 Triangles 7A and 7B depict the last area of pressure on the politicians. This pressure arrives from Trump himself, MAGA politics, and the CPVs. The pressure from Trump is critical, if the politicians don’t openly support Trump and validate his narrative,  they are more likely to lose their local elections. This is due to the fact that the CPVs are the most active in local elections. In other words, winning the CPV vote has become just about the only avenue for reelection for most Republican politicians. Therefore, these politicians will do whatever it takes to get Trump’s endorsement. Repeating my earlier point, the politicians, in the interest of keeping the CPVs happy, and not presenting themselves as part of the ‘swamp’ or ‘deep state’, must repeat and validate Trump’s framing and rhetoric back to the base. However, a byproduct of this messaging from the politicians is the creation of an echo chamber. In this echo chamber, there is a cycle of Trump’s narratives being confirmed back to his base via the politicians themselves.

The Triangles as A Whole:

Overall, though there are other triangles that could be examined, these seven triangles are the most important ones for understanding the internal systems of the model. As seen below, when all the triangles are put into one Frosty model, some interesting dynamics are revealed. First of all, though Trump is the keystone of the model, and certainly pedals a large amount of influence, it is clear that he faces a tremendous amount of pressure within the system as well. This is not to say that he is only a cog in this system, rather, I am saying that he possesses a large amount of control, but is also not immune to influence. This is indicative of the fact that Trump must continue to feed his system; he is vulnerable to the consequences of its volcanic nature. Another important aspect is that money interests directly or indirectly influence every aspect of this model from the base, all the way to Trump himself. This is not novel analysis, however it is interesting to note that, no matter the configuration of the political system,  this component has an immeasurable level of power. Finally, the third interesting conclusion is that the politicians have a tremendous amount of pressure on them from all sides. This dynamic with the politicians is a microcosm, indicative of larger flaws within the political systems and realities of the United States itself. This should not negate the agency of politicians, they should be held accountable for their actions. Instead, this should help inform people that they should research who holds the leash of who they’re voting for. 

Additionally, seeing all seven triangles in one place also reveals that, when the model is put into action, it flows in a very chaotic manner. Issues don’t simply just start with the base, get framed, and then make their way around the bend. Instead, different components of the model influence each other and issues/rhetoric ricochets throughout the internal systems of the model eventually making their way back around to the base.

How Trump Frames Issues

I believe the nature of how Trump frames issues for his base requires more clarity. So,  let’s discuss how exactly Trump connects issues to the narratives he wants to establish. In other words, how does he convince his voters that his narrative is the correct one? He does this in a formulaic manner, using a scapegoat to do so. In action to the scapegoat,  he always uses three components in order to achieve this. These components can be seen in figure 4. 

As I will get into later, Trump routinely exploits these three components for every issue. However, first I must establish the formula itself. Now that 1A, 1B, and 1C have been explained, it is best to put them into practice. To do so, I will show you three examples of them being implemented by Trump.

Example 1: Immigration

• Problem:
  • People are feeling upset with stagnant wages and rising costs.
• Scapegoat:
  • Immigrants
• 1a – practical
  • Immigrants taking jobs and keeping wages low
• 1b – existential
  • Immigrants replacing white people and voting democrat
• 1c – interconnected
  • Woke, liberal, radicals who run the government and don’t care about white people in the US

Example 2: Transgender People

• Problem:
  • People feeling that government services are bad and the government is not looking out for them
• Scapegoat:
  • Transgender people
• 1a – practical
  • Instead of spending money on citizens, government is paying for transgender surgeries
• 1b – existential
  • Your children are at risk of woke radical ideology turning your kids into transgender people
• 1c – interconnected
  • Woke, liberal, radicals who run the government and don’t care about cisgender straight people.

Example 3: Education

• Problem:
  • People feeling that quality of education is decreasing
• Scapegoat:
  • Woke teachers
• 1a – practical
  • Woke curriculum is teaching your children the wrong things
• 1b – existential
  • Woke teachers are turning children into gay communists
• 1c – interconnected
  • Woke, liberal, radicals who run the government don’t care about America, and want to indoctrinate the children.

In addition to these three examples, there are many more. However, there is also something important here that I want to note. Not only is there the larger narrative that Trump is trying to play into through the use of 1C, but he also weaves these issues together as well. For instance: schools being flooded with undocumented migrants creating bad education, the government paying for transgender surgeries for undocumented migrants, and the education system making your children want to be transgender. All of these are claims formerly made by Trump. Two things are being achieved by this: the first is that he divorces the issue from the root cause, and the second is that he connects his broader narrative to be the structural cause to every issue. 

Now that the three components and Trump’s use of scapegoats have been established, we can put all the pieces together to map out the formulaic approach (see figure 5).

As seen in figure 5, through the three components, and a scapegoat, Trump is able to connect any major issue to his overarching narrative. I encourage readers to take this formula and apply it to any Trump talking point of their choosing. Overall, the political benefits for Trump’s approach are substantial (energetic base, issue framing on his terms, controlling the narrative, etc.). Democrats play into his narratives, for instance on immigration, by accepting his framing of there being a crisis at the border and that undocumented immigrants are committing a disproportionate amount of crimes. However, it is naive to pretend there are no trade-offs to such an approach. I will address this in the next few sections of the article, but basically, detaching a large percentage of Americans from reality has, does, and will continue to plague this country by contaminating its politics.

The Particle Accelerator for Fascism

Now that the components, internal functions, and relationships of the Frosty model have been established, let’s move on to a phenomenon the model creates. As mentioned in the title of this section, the Frosty model becomes a particle accelerator for fascism. What I mean by this, is that there is a critical flaw within the model, it does not work. Yes, the model certainly functions, and rather effectively I might add, however, there are no solutions within the model.

 The system does not fire once, it perpetually continues inflaming and recycling issues. Essentially, when an issue goes through the model, becomes a narrative, and then results in policy, the resulting policy does not address the core issue. This is because the core issue has nothing to do with the narrative or the scapegoat. For instance, a recent MAGA proposal to build a large number of private prisons to incarcerate undocumented migrants does not achieve anything beyond filling the pockets of the private prison industry. As a result of these policy approaches designed to line pockets rather than solve problems, when policy is passed to allegedly address these issues, the core concern for the voters does not improve. After conditions do not improve for the American people after the first round of MAGA policy is passed, there is a fork in the road for the components of the model. Either the media, Trump, and the politicians must address the real issue, or continue to perpetuate a lie. Obviously, they chose the latter, which leads to rhetoric being intensified. They must then increase the intensity of their manufactured scapegoat. Instead of immigrants just taking your jobs, now they are voting, and then after that they are drug dealers, and after that, rapists and murderers, and finally, they are polluting the blood of our nation. Because the core issue is only being worsened by the odious policy that gets passed, the level of blame on the scapegoats must increase to account for this. This phenomenon creates a detachment from reality. Due to their material conditions deteriorating and the violent rhetoric against the scapegoats increasing, as voters become increasingly more detached from reality, they are even more vulnerable to fascist tendencies. The risk for violence escalates as well. The voters get angry at conditions not improving, and they target who they are told to blame.  

Beyond detachment from reality, there is a lasting toxicity caused by this system. Though this system will not exist forever and will eventually be replaced or disappear, there will be a lasting effect on the psyche of voters. For instance, after the Cold War and a century of fear mongering about communism, the terms of communism, socialism, and whatever policies are attached to those ideologies, are permanently viewed as evil by the voters. Despite the fact that only a few Americans can actually define communism and socialism beyond being ‘bad’ and meaning ‘everyone has no money’, they still are conditioned to believe that these ideologies are inherently evil. One can expect MAGA politics to have a similar lasting toxic effect on voters. What this means is that proposed solutions will continue to fail to address the actual issues. Overall, the lasting damage will be that the scapegoats of Trump’s rhetoric are permanently blamed for things they are not responsible for, with the consequence being that the policy designed to address the root causes of problems will routinely miss the mark.

Another, more existential consequence of the system, is the delegitimization of institutions. This phenomenon was sparked long before Trump. Americans began to lose trust in their government through the tumultuous sixties and seventies with everything that occurred, and continued throughout the rest of the twentieth century with one scandal, revelation, and war after another until we finally reach today. The average American does not have the same level of trust in American institutions that they had 50 years ago. Trump has taken advantage of this trend, and has taken it to another level. According to his narratives, the government is not only flawed and far from perfect, but completely compromised from within, and beyond the point of repair. This rhetoric creates a complete mistrust in our institutions as well as a lack of social trust in each other. The result of this, along with poor policies and polarizing legislative gridlock, is a fulfillment of the criteria for achieving the twenty-first century phenomenon of democratic backsliding. This democratic backsliding paves the way for authoritarian strong men to take control and often with popular support. Look at Orban in Hungary, Bukele in El Salvador, and Putin in Russia. No wonder Trump reveres these individuals, as he seeks to emulate their pathway to achieving ultimate power. 

Though Trump’s system creates a rabid and reliable base, the long term consequences are potentially disastrous. Effects such as detachment from reality, lasting toxic rhetoric, and delegitimization of our institutions are concerning developments that will outlive Trump’s relevance in American politics. Even if Trump does not achieve his ultimate goals of being a strong man, the lasting structural damage from his tenure in politics will serve as a solid foundation for one to rise up.

The Failure of Success

Though the Frosty model has revealed a very concerning trend in American politics, there is another potential flaw within the system. This flaw is structural within MAGA politics itself; it is the use of ‘live bait’. What I mean, is that by actually passing their policy, Republicans now open themselves up to voters potentially seeing reality. 

The best example of this is abortion. For decades Republicans used abortion as a talking point to string along the most conservative and christian sects of their voting base. However, when Trump actually took action on abortion through the supreme court that he packed with conservative judges, the result was a disaster. From Kansas to Carolina, the dangerous consequences of ditching Roe v Wade were revealed. Americans became appalled by stories of women bleeding out in their cars, forced to carry their rapist’s baby, and healthcare providers unable to perform life saving surgery for mothers out of fear of being prosecuted. This complete backfiring for Trump turned a Republican talking point into what is surely the Democrats’ strongest issue today. 

The potential for this process to be repeated in other areas is high. For instance, if Trump actually is elected and follows up on his promise of mass deportations, the result would be terrible for Republicans. Stories of individuals who have families, are active community members, and have lived nearly their entire lives in the US, being dragged out of their homes by ICE or the military and deported to a country they barely know would appall Americans just like abortion has. Other awful Trump proposals would have similar effects. Therefore, though the prospect of a second Trump term is a scary one, a rather heartless and machiavellian consideration is that the potentially long term damage his proposed policies would do could hamstring Republican support. However, this is not a solid or moral bet to make, as mentioned before, if Trump is able to adequately detach enough voters from reality, the blame for his bad policies would not fall on him, but rather, the most vulnerable individuals in society. 

Overall, these realities point to a critical battle that must be won by the Democrats. In the long term, educating Americans to use critical thinking when examining headlines and to understand issues is paramount. However, in the short term, there is a messaging battle to be won. If they want any hope of mitigating and countering the damage of MAGA politics, Democrats must win the messaging battle for influence over the average voter. This does not entail being the ‘better’ border party or  winning within Trump’s framework. Democrats must cease their perpetual fear of being labeled as a radical, and stop accepting the flawed premises and narratives of the Republican party. As long as Democrats abide by Trump’s framing on issues, they will never achieve the popular support necessary to begin the arduous process of undoing all of his damage. However, this is an unfortunate and compromising position for Democrats, as messaging has consistently been one of their weakest attributes, and they routinely capitulate to MAGA framing. 

Long Term Viability

Continuing, let’s assess the long term viability of the Frosty system. Though the system currently is functioning, there are indications that, like a star, the system will burn very bright and then die a sudden death. 

First of all, Trump is the most important part of the system. Without Trump, CPVs lose their vigor and certainly some of their rabid nature. This is one of the trade-offs of becoming a personalistic party, once the leader is gone, who do the Cult of Personality Voters fall back to? This is potentially a good sign, as Trump is not likely to be a permanent fixture in American politics. Considering his age, his health, and election safeguards that held the line in 2020, the possibility of him potentially making a successful move towards permanent power is rather low.

Continuing, one of the reasons Trump is so critical for the functionality of the system is his vertical power structure. Trump has made himself indispensable by establishing his viability as singular. Since 2016, Trump has beat down and neutered any Republicans who have tried to launch a meaningful challenge. This will have a lasting effect; all the potential successors will still have that stink of being a ‘loser’ on them when Trump is gone. Furthermore, Trump is unlikely to name or through meaningful support behind a political successor considering his self-centered interests. Additionally, there is the other consideration of realistic viability. Trump has carved out a very specific role for himself, and it takes a candidate with the same level of charisma and ability to captivate an audience to replace him. Unfortunately for Republicans, prominent potential replacements are devoid of any charisma, struggle in public settings, and are viewed in unfavorable terms by most Americans. People such as JD Vance, Ron Desantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk, and Tucker Carlson would fail spectacularly at trying to work a crowd to recapture Trump’s CPVs. The system is built around Trump himself, and his messaging of himself being a messiah for Americans. Therefore, once Trump is gone, the system itself will fail without someone with comparable skills to Trump filling the Trump sized void. 

There is also the potential for the system to fail even with Trump still in play. If the lies and fanciful rhetoric become too extreme even for the base, the detachment that the system induces could cause the system to collapse in on itself like a dying star. While CPVs can isolate themselves on social media, there is hope that being forced to interact with normal, rational individuals throughout their daily lives could keep them semi-grounded. However, with Americans’ increasing dependence on social media, CPVs will be able to more effectively insulate themselves from the outside world than before. Additionally, considering recent revelations from hurricanes Helene and Milton, the misinformation surrounding these weather events revealed the extent of the damage of MAGA politics. A vast amount of Republican voters have been so conditioned by Trump’s rhetoric, that they find the conspiracy theory of the government doing ‘cloud seeding’ to wipe out red states with hurricanes before the election to be more plausible than climate change causing the intensity and frequency of hurricanes to increase. That very recent example does not bode well for the possibility of the system destroying itself. 

Overall, it is inevitable that the system will eventually fail. However, it would be beneficial to America if the system fell apart on account of its own lies and deceit with Trump still a part of it. This is unfortunately unlikely and therefore the system will most likely collapse in the chaos and power vacuum that Trump’s eventual death or departure from politics will cause. Meaning, that the foundations it laid will remain valid, and the carcass of the system will lie in wait for the next demagogue to revive it.

Conclusions

In conclusion, Trump has created a dangerous and ravenous monster that he must constantly feed. This system is one that not only is the machine behind MAGA politics, but a system whose long term impact will outlive Trump or MAGA in America. Due to the out of touch ineptitude of Democrats, what should’ve been done nearly a decade ago to stop Trump before he ever took office was not done, and now we all must live with the consequences of his tenure in American politics. Measures such as throwing bones to workers who lost their jobs because of NAFTA and globalization, refusing to abide by Republican frameworks, effective messaging on policy to the average voter, and working to regain trust in our institutions were not done. There are no immediate solutions to beat this machine besides robbing Trump of his political prominence, which is something that is unlikely to happen. Even if Trump goes to jail, due to the narratives he has built, it would only increase his prominence as well as the ferocity of his base. In the long term, a better education system, more honest media, and a reckoning of the damaging role of money in politics will address some of the structural flaws that the Frosty model exploits. However, some of the areas that Frosty exploits are more permanent fixtures of the American political system. These areas will always be vulnerable to exploitation, and as the famous quote goes: “When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving the cross.”

Is the Frosty system actually a precursor to fascism in America? Hopefully not, Trump could just end up being a bad dream where historians look back and say, “well, that was a weird time in America”. However, while it pains me to say it, this is unlikely. In many ways, America deserves Trump. Trump is the manifestation of a true realization of the American system. The city on the hill is dead, and we burned it down. America, though perhaps it once was the hero of the world, is not, and it hasn’t been for some time now. The debilitating hypocrisy, unquenchable greed, and delusional hubris of America has corroded any of the good will our nation had left in the world. How can the ‘bastion of human rights’ fund and support a genocide? How can the self proclaimed ‘beacon of democracy’ overwhelmingly support a fascist? How can the ‘standard for meritocracy’ create a system so structurally unequal? Maybe because America never was those things. For the wrong reasons, Trump is right that the American system is broken, but he is not the solution, he is the manifestation of its flaws. If you were searching for a light at the end of the tunnel here, I am disappointed to report that I have not found one. Trump is not a passing phase, he is the standard. He perfectly represents who America is. This is not to say that there aren’t millions of Americans out there fighting the good fight, and fighting for America to be the America they learned to love and respect in school. However, it is naive to believe that the foundations for fascism in America haven’t already been laid beneath our feet.